Book Review: Dark Destiny

Yesterday morning, I finished Dark Destiny by M. J. Putney. 

Here's the summary from the author's website:
Tory and her friends are celebrating the success of a second mission to aid WWII Britain when an urgent summons calls them back to their own time: Napoleon is on the brink of invading England.  Can a handful of young mages stop an army?  In desperation, Merlin’s Irregulars ask Rebecca Weiss, an untrained telepath from 1940, to come back to 1804 and change Napoleon’s mind before it’s too late. 
As Tory and Allarde make a commitment that will cost him his inheritance, Rebecca promises to do what she can to stop Napoleon even though she is unsure of her magical abilities.  But Tory and her friends saved the Weiss family from Nazi imprisonment, and Rebecca will risk anything, even her life and her budding relationship with Nick Rainford, to repay them.
Tory and her friends undertake daring missions to Wales and France, where Napoleon is gathering ships and plotting invasion.  But while their success may save England, they must still face the bittersweet consequences of their decisions when they return home.

Star rating: **** (Four stars)

 
Dark Destiny is the third (and I believe final) book in the Dark Mirror series. 

A little back story:

In Dark Mirror, the first book, 16 year old Lady Victoria Mansfield finds out that she is a mageling (she has magical powers).  In "polite" society, magelings are frowned upon.  Tory tries to keep her magic a secret, but winds up exposing it when she saves her nephew's life.  She then gets sent to Lackland Academy, a school for "curing" magelings of their magic.  She eventually finds Merlin's Irregulars, a group of mages who want to use their powers to defend England.  She joins them, and they have dangerous adventures.  She also finds Merlin's Mirror, a magical device that allows her and her friends to travel through space and time.

My thoughts:

Dark Destiny was lots of fun, much like the other Dark Mirror books.  The action was good, and I like the characters.  That pretty much all I have to say about the good parts of the book.

This book had a lot more romance, and not in a good way.  There was much more kissing, some couples spending the night together (just sleeping, thank heavens), and too many uses of the word "handsome".  Really, Tory, Cynthia, and Rebecca, I got the fact that your true loves were handsome when you said it the first time.  After looking at the author's website, specifically the covers of the adult books she's written, it's nor really surprising that the romance in this one got more.... physical.  ***SPOILER***  The one piece of romance I really liked was when Allarde's father decides not to sign the disinheritance papers about three seconds before his death, and Allarde and Tory decide that they will stick it out, even though society will give them the cold shoulder because of their magic. ***End Spoiler***

That's about it.  Hope you have a great week!